Webpage loading speed is an important indicator for evaluating browser products. Based on response times perceivable by a user, browser loading speed can be evaluated using different time metrics T0, T1, T2, and T3. Here, T0 refers to a time between the transmission of a request by a user and the presentation of a web page title. T1 refers to a time between the transmission of a request by a user and the presentation of a web page title. T2 refers to a time between the transmission of a request by a user and the presentation of a first line of a web page. T3 refers to a time between the transmission of a request by a user and the presentation of the entirety of the web page. Among these metrics, T1 and T3 are more important, because T1 represents the time that the user needs to wait before browsing of a web page starts, while T3 represents the time that the user needs to wait before a complete web page is available for browsing.
Webpage loading at a mobile terminal can be performed in two different ways. Most mobile terminal browsers can directly access a web page content server (e.g., a target server) to load a web page and the sub-resources associated therewith. On the other hand, mobile terminal browsers can also submit a request to an intermediary server (e.g., a proxy server) instead of the content server. The intermediary server can then forward the request to the content server, which then transmits the data for the requested web page to the intermediary server. The intermediary server can provide the data to the browsers.
As can be understood from above, directly accessing a web page content server to load a web page, instead of accessing an intermediary server, can save the time required for the transaction between the intermediary server and the content server, and can lead to faster loading of the web page. However, there is no defined order of loading the sub-resources associated with the web page, which can lead to longer loading time and unstable loading speed. On the other hand, intermediary servers are typically designed to maintain a specific order of transmission of the sub-resources, such as an order as defined in the web page, to the browser. Such an arrangement can improve and stabilize loading speed of a web page. As a result, using intermediary server to provide web page loading has become mainstream.
However, with the current technology, intermediary server typically finishes acquiring all of the sub-resources of the web page from the content server before providing the web page to the mobile terminal browser. As a result, it can take a long time to display the web page on the mobile terminal browser.